Some Results from the BCC 2013 Reader Survey

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who completed our reader survey a couple of weeks ago. Some of you have asked to see the results, and while we want to keep the verbatims confidential, we’ll share what we can.

BCC readers are an incredibly diverse bunch. We received well over 200 responses to our survey, from 14 countries and 36 states (and maybe more), and each response was different. For instance, some of you think we’re too lax with our comment moderation, some of you think we exercise unrighteous dominion. Lots of readers love Blair’s book reviews, but one guy can’t stand them. But the most common response was that BCC is great. (Thank you, and we agree.)

When we saw several similar responses to a question, we noted it, and here are some of the most common responses:

Some stuff readers like:

Rebecca

Steve and Police Beat Roundtable

Kevin

Blair’s book reviews

D&C lesson series (and other curriculum-based posts)

Topical variety

Author variety (specifically, young people and women, and international perspectives)

The permabloggers

In-depth history

BCC cross-pollination with other bloggernacle sites

Matsby

Fires and firestorms

Zeitcast

Charts, graphs, infographics

The Sideblog

Merciless troll slaying (while sparing the young and innocent)

“I’m a Mormon” video selections

Reader Question Box

Some stuff readers don’t like:

The WordPress comment filter

Fiction

Long posts

Too much sarcasm

Inside jokes

Untruncated posts on RSS (you want to have to click through?)

LDS Living (but you like us as an alternative)

Criticism of General Authorities

Not being able to edit comments

Opacity around our comment moderation policies

Lastly, here are a few charts and graphs, because some of you said you like them. (Note: we were intentionally vague about how “church activity” is defined.)

A majority of BCC readers give themselves a 5 when asked about their level of church activity.

41% of respondents give themselves a 3 when asked how active they are on BCC.

We looked at how BCC activity matches up with church activity, and found that there’s a wide range, though most of the heavy BCC “users” give themselves a 4 or a 5 for church activity.

Paddy, we actually have 4 permas who live outside the US (2 natively: Ronan JH and Aaron R, and 2 long-term expat: John C and Norbert). But you’re right, we don’t hear their voices/perspectives enough on those issues, and we could use more voices (particularly outside EU).

I’m glad for this info. I know someone who thinks that all the mormons on the internet are apostate (that’s why they take to the nets). It’s nice to see even a loose correlation between church and bcc activity. Of course, maybe the apostates are just deluded about what “active” really is (they are apostate, after all)…
I guess I’m gonna need some better proof before my soul stops being worried about :)

I like fiction. I suspect the problem a lot of people have with fictional posts is when they don’t know that they are fiction until sometime after they’ve read (and commented on) the post. But I thought the Gilda Trillim posts were a delightful change of pace.

I also like a lot of the longer posts. And I love untruncated RSS posts.

I was one of those who made a comment/complaint about the WordPress comment filter, not being able to edit comments, etc. And I was just thinking, an alternative method of addressing these issues that would perhaps be logistically easier to implement (I don’t know, maybe not) would be to allow a comment preview, either real-time as the comment is being typed (as is done on some wiki editing sites or on the Times & Seasons website), or as a preview option available to the commenter (as is allowed on Blogger).

@Corrina, it’s an ongoing series where we share weird stuff that shows up in our list of search terms that brought people to the site (wordpress keeps track of that as part of the site monitoring statistics). Archive: http://bycommonconsent.com/?s=reader+question+box

Thanks for posting these results. I wonder if the (relatively) small number of respondents who gave themselves a 5 on BCC activity relfects a pretty high ratio of lurkers to commenters. (I had to de-lurk to say this.)

Also, thanks for all the wonderful, fascinating, and funny writing you all do. I love BCC!

Kulturblog

Time to update Susan’s post from August of 07. “They say that these are not the best of times, But they’re the only times I’ve ever known. And I believe there is a time for meditation In cathedrals of our own.” -Billy Joel, Summer Highland Falls

NOTE: This is an essay I wrote as an undergraduate at the University of Utah almost thirty years ago. I am republishing it here as a remembrance of my favorite professor, Mark Strand, upon the occasion of his passing. Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live… […]